


Crystalline

by LiviaJayde



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-02-10
Updated: 2010-02-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 05:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1767937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiviaJayde/pseuds/LiviaJayde





	1. Chapter 1

 

**CHAPTER 1: the Stars Above**

 

She clacked hurriedly down the corridor, passing through the blurs of blue, yellow, and red without so much as a glance up from the data pad she was tapping on, but as she turned the corner to get on the turbo lift, a trilling voice broke through her concentration,

                “Ms.Q’eil! Oh, Ms.Q’eil wait!”

                She turned to acknowledge the bobbing blonde as the girl practically crashed into her in the excitement of her errand. Catching her breath, she handed her an order slip. Glancing over it, Lt. Q’eil handed the data pad she had been working on back to the blonde, “Why isn’t Ensign Yates reporting to this station?”

“Uh,” the girl squirmed under a steady lavender gaze staring her down quizzically from under bangs that were a pewter shade of gray; “I don’t know ma’am, I was only told to fetch you by First Officer Spock to relieve her and report directly to the CMO.”

Lt.Q’eil arched an eyebrow and then dismissed the girl. Watching the blonde duck back through the crowd, she was left to ponder such a direct request from the bridge as the turbo lift door slid shut.

When the door opened, she made her way gracefully and quickly to medical bay. She was greeted by Nurse Chapel, the ship’s head nurse, at the door.

Standing at attention, she announced her reassignment, and was waved into the bay.

“Be careful dear,” the charismatic blonde clucked at her, “he’s in a mood today, probably from the department being understaffed during the mandatory physical exams…. You better wait until I get back from running to the lab before you try to go into the office.”

“Yes ma’am,” Lt. Q’eil responded, and watched the figure of the head nurse disappear down the corridor.  She hated remaining idle, however, and began inspecting her surroundings. Having little use of the Enterprise’s medical resources herself, she’d never reported to this area of the ship before.

A shuffle and a small human noise from behind a semi-opaque partition caused her to pause. Thinking it may be a patient in need, and seeing no other medical staff in the room, Lt. Q’eil cautiously peeked around the partition to see if she could offer assistance to whoever was on the other side. Instead of a biobed, however, she was met with the sight of a disassembled office stacked nearly knee-high with various datapads, order forms, and medical tools. The infuriating disorganization aside, she was further shocked by the visage of a man with dark brown hair slumped over  a desk in the middle of the disarray, head laying awkwardly on the desk, whiskey flask in-hand.

Examining the sleeping man, she deduced he was a senior medical officer, early thirties, most likely the doctor on duty as there didn’t seem to be another soul in the bay, with deep age lines all ready starting to crease under his eyes, probably from large amounts of stress, or from being easily stressed out; and as she could surmise from the contraband flask, he was probably unable to properly cope with said stress. Just as she was about to back out of the office, the man stirred and lifting his head off the desk, his eyes flew open to reveal startling blue irises. His eyes remained unfocused for a mere moment before settling on her.

“Damn, can’t a man close his eyes for two seconds?” he turned to his screen, hiding the flask somewhere underneath the desk, “You’re early, which I guess isn’t the worst thing, better than being late,” he sighed and stood up, grabbing a tricorder scanner from somewhere in the mess, and headed towards her.

“Sir, I’m here-“

 He threw up his hand, “Look kid, the whole process goes easier if you just answer my questions, sit still for the pokes an’ prods, and don’t give me any lip,” he motioned to the closest biobed, “Up on that.” she complied, slightly confused, but before she could open her mouth to ask, he asked for her name and began scanning her with the tricorder wand.

“Lt. Chakra Q’eil, but Doctor-“

“Damn, this can’t be right,” he glanced over the tricorder screen, and then started tapping on the clear screen next to the bed, “how you spell that last name?”

“Doctor, please, I don’t need an exam, I-“

“Quit wasting my time and answer the question, I’m a doctor… I have better things to do than listen to your yammering.”

She clenched her teeth, _Like what, drink yourself into another nap_ ; “Q-apostrophe-e-i-l.”

After tapping her name into the computer, his face twisted into a scowl, “What the hell?”

She sighed inwardly, and sat compliantly as he scanned her again, glared at the computer, then turned to glare at her, “it says you’re not authorized for an exam,  in fact you’re a Ty’roi , so you probably won’t ever need one… so  what the hell are you doing in my medical bay?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you!” she hopped off the bed, exasperated, “I was sent to assist in your paperwork filing, not get ‘poked an’ prodded’ as you put it.”

He set down the tricorder and stroked his chin as he seemed to be tossing the information around in his cranky little skull. She had a hard time trying not to mimic the scowl that seemed to be permanently pasted on his face.

“Doctor, I’m sure the CMO can verify that a request was put through the bridge for administrative assistance if you don’t believe me, but I have a few hours left to my shift, and I will spend them doing what was ordered of me, even if he is not here.”

His face erupted into a full snarl, “I am the CMO damnit, and I didn’t request anything of the sort, especially not for them to send someone in between physical examinations who’d waste my time and my patience with her attitude! Now, like it or not, it is my job to file a physical of each and every member of this crew, and since you’re here, you’ll have to go through it, and you _will,_ before you touch a scrap of my medical files.”

She sat back down on the edge of the biobed, taken aback by his explosive reaction. He continued to tap at the screen next to her head while she struggled to comprehend why he would badger her in such a manner.

Grumbling to himself, he grabbed a datapad from a nearby cabinet, “All right, besides a few basics the federation felt like sharing, there is nothing in your medical file, so we’ll have to start from scratch, and I’ll need to know everything that could possibly become a medical issue later. We’ll skip the vaccination history, since there is notation that you have an extremely high immunity to nearly every know bacteria and virus; and aside from your odd coloration, you appear human in every physiological aspect, save one… your heartbeat is unusually quiet.”

Her eyebrows raised in surprise, “how so?”

“Well it’s not like it isn’t pulsing normally, it’s just… quieter than it should be, I can’t explain it without an internal scan, but I don’t have time right now to conduct one, I will schedule you one for after the ship-wide exams….. So aside from that, are there any unknown genetic factors of your alien heritage that I need to know about?”

“Are they not filed,” she asked as he checked her eye reflexes.

“There’s only an ambiguous note about an unusual adrenal reaction,” he responded as he injected her with a hypo.

“OW!’ she exclaimed, “What was that?”

“Nothing to worry about, it’ll hit in a minute,” he tapped at the datapad, “Now, how about answering the question?”

“There are really only two things that could be classified as medical hazards,” she responded, rubbing her neck, “that is my kinetic-psionic ability and the adrenal reaction listed.”

“By kinetic, you mean…”

“I am a touch-telepath. No where never the level of Vulcans', but I can sense and sometimes see what others think and feel through contact.” Her heart started to feel like it was racing.

“What about the other thing?” he seemed to be looking at her intently.

“I-“did it get hotter in the room, “I-“no, her heart was definitely racing,”Doctor, what was in that hypo?”

“A mild stimulant,” he murmured, “to test your sensitivity and reaction to determine if it’s something I should really be concerned about, as a hazard to yourself and the other members of this crew, or-“

Her eyes widened and she slid off the bed away from him, “What- Why… why would you do that?”

He glared at her, “Damnit woman, I just told you-“

She felt it starting in her left cheek, cold droplets beginning to form out of her pores and solidify, shingling into each other to form a blue crystalline layer over her pale skin.

“My God,” he grabbed her arm, staring at the crystals building across her wrist, “I was not expecting the reaction to be anything like this!”

She struggled to calm her body before the crystals could meld to form solid plates across her skin, only half-hearing the doctor scan her and chatter on about how indignant he was that Starfleet would allow someone like her onboard without notifying or informing the ship’s CMO, or at least provide a half-decent god-damn medical file so he’d know what to expect from a person whose species were so unfamiliar. Slowly, too slowly it seemed, her nerves started to settle, and as they did, crystals dried on top of her skin and were shed.

When she could breathe normally again, she glared at the doctor who was tapping furiously at the datapad, “Well, that concludes the tests, now-“

“Doctor!” she exclaimed, furious, “That was the most unethical, intrusive-“

The door to the medical bay slid open, and nurse Chapel walked in, chatting with another nurse with long black hair.

“Oh my,” She glanced between the scowling doctor and the surprised Chakra Q’eil, “Dr.McCoy, is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine;” he replied coolly, “Lt. Q’eil has finished her physical exam, and has been granted medical leave for the rest of her shift.”

Chakra turned to glare at him, then turned back to Nurse Chapel and bowed her head before hurriedly leaving Medical bay, angry tears and another layer of crystal barely being held back.

 


	2. Chapter 2

****

 

 

**CHAPTER 2: Cantankerous**

Though she still felt unsettled by the end of her two-day “weekend” leave, she had decided not to report the incident with Dr. McCoy to higher. While his method had been inexcusable, first-hand medical inspection was the most accurate when presented with a medical anomaly-- even if that anomaly culminated into a single sentient being who would never have given permission for such an intrusive test, denying him the knowledge he thought would be necessary for him to obtain to predict any future emergencies concerning her. At least that was the conclusion further reflection of the incident led her to. Besides, she wasn’t one to hold grudges.

However, she gritted her teeth while exiting the turbo lift, if he were to pull another stunt like that, she would have his medical license revoked and punch out a few of his teeth! She nodded to a few of her co-workers as she entered the scheduling room. She stepped gracefully over to the left wall and pulled the folder marked with her name out of a numbered slot. She opened it to reveal a single assignment sheet, and almost as soon as her eyes recognized the crisply typed letters, the folder slipped from her hands.

“Whoa!” a slender hand darted to catch the folder, and she recognized the voice of the blonde girl who, three days prior, had given her the reassignment that led to that embarrassing scenario. “That’s not like you Ms. Q’eil… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drop anything.”

“What _is_ this?” Chakra squeaked, unable to comprehend the order she’d just read.

The blonde took the sheet of paper from Chakra and her eyes skimmed over the order. “It’s a week-long assignment in Medical. Wow! What are the odds of that?”

_What were the odds indeed._

“Stacey,” her eyes fluttered shut as her brain tried to grasp this awkward turn of events. “Aside from the fact that I have requested at least a hundred times since we graduated that you either refer to me as lieutenant or be completely informal and call me Chakra, as opposed to the formal address of _‘Ms. Q’eil’_ \- because we are in fact the same age…  What do you know about this… this…. I can’t even think of a word for this abominable situation.”

Stacey raised both of her eyebrows. “I don’t know anything about this, besides what’s here.” Her green eyes widened as a thought passed behind them. “Is Dr. McCoy really that bad? Y’know…  I’ve heard stories-“

“Stories?”

“Well, yes, from other staff who’ve had to work shifts in Medical. They say he’s really cranky and moody; He lost his temper at the engineer sent to fix one of the bio beds and Dr. McCoy _threw_ the screen at him! True story! Then I overheard one of the nurses talking about requesting for a transfer, ‘cause he’s a slave driver…. Perfectionist through and through-“

Chakra had to laugh. “Perfectionist? I don’t believe that for a minute after what I saw.” She placed the folder back into the slot, scrunching her nose in disgust.

“What?” Stacey gasped, “What was it?”

“Data pads and paperwork,” Chakra lowered her hand down to thigh level, “this high.”

“No!” Stacey exclaimed, appalled.

“Oh, yes. The office is buried.” Chakra gave her a wink. “True story.”

“I guess you’ll need a full week, then, to get through it all.” Stacey giggled. “Oh, I gotta go- catch you at lunch?”

“If I last that long,” Chakra mumbled in reply as she headed toward the door and turned headed for the turbo lift. The door slid open and she was unnerved by the sight of the person within.

 “Good morning, Lt. Q’eil.”

“First Officer Spock, good morning.” She nodded and stepped inside next to the tall Vulcan, pressing the button for Deck 6.

“To which departments are you reporting this week,” he asked mildly, hands clasped behind him at the small of his back.

“I’m in Medical Bay _all_ week.”

“I would venture to make a speculation.”

“Of course, sir.”

 “I believe Dr. McCoy could not be more fortuitous in the chance that you would be his Operations Assistant during the first run of Ship-wide physical examinations,” he responded, quirking an eyebrow. “Especially with the currently diminished number of medical staff.”

Chakra’s eyes narrowed, “Chance, Mr. Spock?”

He matched her defiant, quizzical gaze with his stoic dark eyes until the turbo lift stopped and the door slid open. “I do believe this is your floor Lieutenant.”

She knew that meant her dismissal, question lingering, and she stepped out of the turbo lift; but if he thought for a moment this topic was closed, he was sorely mistaken. While she knew her cadet-based acquaintance with him was little leverage, it may be just enough get him to help her to figure out why exactly she’d been assigned to what she was sure was going to be a week from Hell….

\------------------- 

                She spent the entire first day running errands; Dr. McCoy wouldn’t even let her into the office to start on the paperwork or filing. She ran to the lab collecting or dropping off samples more times than she could count, not to mention the 42 trips to the Mess Hall to collect various snacks and a specific peach-flavored tea that Dr. McCoy claimed reminded him of home. That sparse sentimentality aside, he was a wretched man who spent every available moment ignoring her existence or barking orders for her to get out of the way, run and get him tea, go find Ensign Ricky because he was about to miss his appointment, or to go back to the lab because he needed the second vial a nurse accidently sent instead of the fifth vial; or any other errand he could make up.

                The second day didn’t seem to be going any better than the first, except that after lunch Dr. McCoy had an Officer meeting he had to attend, so Chakra settled into the office and began the arduous task of sorting out the paperwork and logging the data pads. She was nearly finished with sorting when Dr. McCoy strolled into the office, demolished a large stack of papers while complaining he couldn’t find anything with the way she had things, and then knocked another stack down while attempting to pull out the slip he was looking for. He left her fuming in a mess larger than it had been originally, seriously contemplating that if she were inclined to believe in supernatural superstitions, she may believe Dr. Leonard McCoy to be the devil.

                By the end of the third day she had all the data pads logged, all the paperwork sorted and had only been to the cafeteria 18 times, a vast improvement from day one. Sighing, she took a moment to stretch; and when she turned to grab the stack of data pads she had laid on the desk to take back to the Server Unit, she was startled to see Dr. McCoy watching her, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded.

                “Before you go,” he said sullenly, “I need to confirm your internal scan appointment.”

                “Doctor,” she replied as calmly as she could, “it’s not really the time to discuss that.” _Plus, I really, really want to hurt you right now… and the week’s only half over._

                “Look, you can pick a time, or I can order a time: your choice.”

“Order away, doctor,” she picked up the data pads. “My shift is over, I’m dropping off these data pads, and then I’m going to try to get some rest before tomorrow.” She headed toward the doorway. “Now if you’ll excuse me!” She stepped past him and walked as briskly as she could to the turbo lift.

                Most of the fourth day was spent with Dr. McCoy ignoring her; which suited Chakra just fine since it allowed her to get through most of the paperwork.  Aside from a few papers she came across that needed his signature, she did her best to avoid him in turn. At about 0300 hours, however, the quiet but busy rhythm of the Medical Bay was interrupted by an emergency alarm. Chakra looked up surprised from some papers she was reviewing as Nurse Chapel rushed into the office, “Lieutenant, come quick! We need an extra set of hands!”

                She saw as soon as she cleared the partition that several members of the engineering staff were being ushered into Medical Bay with injuries ranging from mild to severe, mostly burns and cuts, a few were in really bad shape.

                “What happened?’ she gasped as Nurse Chapel handed her a first aid kit.

                “Some sort of explosion in the engine room; We’re short on the details, but here, dear- treat the minor injuries, the nurses and I will see to the more severe, and the doctors are working on the critical.”

                The next hour was spent on bandaging up hands, arms, and faces, applying burn salve for those that needed it, and documenting each injury and treatment on the data pad assigned to each patient. She looked up from her last finger-splint to see Dr. McCoy glancing her way from the doorway of medical bay where he was talking to Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock, and Nurse Chapel, who waved her over. She joined the group, saluting the senior officers.

                “Nurse Chapel was just bragging on your performance today, Lieutenant,” Captain Kirk extended a hand to her, and Chakra shook it.

                “Thank you, sir. I was properly trained in medical first aid at the academy.”

                “So I’ve heard,” he grinned, blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “Even Bones has been impressed by your tenacious bandaging skills, Right Bones?”

                Dr. McCoy lifted an eyebrow, and after a pause replied, “It was standard, at least.”

 An awkward moment passed, and all though she saw the glance between Captain and First officer, she couldn’t read into what was behind it.

                “Excuse me Captain,” she turned to return to the office to resume her paperwork, but she still managed to overhear him demand, “Damnit Bones, what is wrong with you?”

                She couldn’t help but to smirk.

                At the start of the fifth day she entered the medical bay with a single joyous thought parading through her mind: _This is my last day in Hell._ It only took a few hours to finish up the paperwork leftover from the day before, during which she neither heard nor saw any of the glowering doctor. The oddity of his absence didn’t occur to her until Nurse Chapel strolled into the office and looked surprised to see her.

                “Dear, what are you doing here?”

                “Just finishing up my assignment,” Chakra smiled. “There are a few forms here that need Dr. McCoy’s signature… but I haven’t seen him yet.”

                “Oh well, you know… he’s been feeling under the weather since all the stress yesterday. The Captain said he could delay the last of the physicals and get some rest.”

                Chakra couldn’t help the exasperated sigh that came. She looked down at the folder she had compiled, and then set it down on the desk. “Well, that’s the last of it, then.”

                Nurse Chapel tapped her chin with her index and middle finger. “Now wait a moment dear,” she said as Chakra walked around the table. “I was going to take some vitamin powder to Dr. McCoy after checking on the patients, but- well, if you need him to sign some papers I don’t see why you can’t get it to him quicker and save me a trip.”

                Chakra took a moment to process the request. “You want _me_ to go to Dr. McCoy’s _quarters_ to deliver these papers and administer medicine to him?”

                “Well, I will call him and let him know you’re coming, of course.”

                “…. Of course….”

                “Excellent! Then you’ll do it for me, oh thank you so much! Let me grab-“

“Wai-“she had responded too slowly; the friendly head nurse was all ready chatting away with another nurse about the contents of the cabinet behind the right partition.

_Damn, Damn, Damn. I’d rather not have to see him at all today. That short-tempered, overbearing, irksome -_

“Now, here you are dear I wrote down his room number. I’ll go ahead and give him a buzz. Now shoo! Shoo! The sooner you’re done with this the sooner you start your weekend, right?” She practically shoved Chakra into the hallway.

\---------------------------------

 

Folder and small white packet in hand, Chakra could barely keep herself from stomping down the residential corridor towards Dr. McCoy’s quarters.

Fuming, she could only wonder about the kind of mood the doctor would be in _,_ or whether or not she should pick up a religion in order to collect insurance against what, she was sure her foster mother would call, extremely bad luck. Bad luck that she met the man during physical exams, bad luck that some unknown force had put her under his thumb for an entire week and now- _Now she was taking him medicine in bed_! In the mist of her tempestuous thinking, it struck her that she had all most missed the door on her left that matched the number Nurse Chapel had scribbled down.

                Taking one step back, she double-checked the number on the door against the one on paper, steeling herself with a calming breath. She rapped lightly on the door. A few moments passed without a response. She tapped the door with her knuckles twice.

                “Whattaya want?” a muffled groan came from the other side of the door.

                She took another deep breath before responding, “Dr. McCoy, It’s Lt. Q’eil. Nurse Chapel sent me.”

                A few moments passed, but before she opened her mouth to try again the door slid open, revealing a very frazzled Dr. McCoy with disheveled hair, clutching a standard Starfleet coverlet around himself. “Damnit,” he mumbled, turning away from her. “Come in. What did she send you for?”

                Chakra obediently stepped inside the room. “Excuse me, sir, but Nurse Chapel said she would let you know of my arrival.”

                “Yea,” he replied gruffly, slumping onto his bed. “But she wasn’t so kind as to explain _why_.”

                “There are a few papers that nee-“

                “Just plop ‘em on my desk then,” he growled and curled up into his blanket on the bed, turning his back on her. “You don’t need to bug me over something like that. Jesus.”

                Chakra cleared her throat, trying to control her frustration. “ _And_ she wanted me to bring you some vitamin powder to keep you from falling ill after the large amount of stress you’ve been under.”

                A grunt was the only reply he afforded, and after a few moments she decided that a retreat was in order. With an aggravated sigh she dropped the papers and packet on the desk opposite of the bed and turned to leave.

                “Put it in some tea.”

                She paused in front of the door. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

                He shuffled under the coverlet but didn’t turn over to face her. “I said if you put it in some peach tea, I’ll take the damn poison.”

                She sauntered back to the desk and picked up the packet, “Very well, Doctor, I’ll be back from the cafeteria momentarily.”

                “The door will be open,” was the muffled reply.

                The trip to the cafeteria a floor down and back probably totaled six minutes, but when she reentered the room, Dr. McCoy began to berate her about how even the simplest of tasks taking her too long to complete, and she was half-tempted to dump the tea on his head. Instead, she handed it to him, and took a step back so she was at least arm’s length, In case he further tempted her to cause him bodily harm. Sniffing at the cup, he scrunched his nose.

                “It _is_ poison, isn’t it?”

                “Don’t be ridiculous, Doctor.” She replied as he narrowed his eyes and took a sip.

                “Jesus! It tastes disgusting! It’s got to be poison!” he pushed the cup away snarling.

                The last of her patience crackled through her nerves. “For crying out loud!” she grabbed the cup from his hand; “you are acting less than half your age! It is a supplement that is meant to keep you from getting ill, that’s all!”

                She took a swallow of the cup’s contents, and while the taste was slightly metallic from the medicine, it wasn’t at all as bad as the doctor let on. She thrust the cup back at him.

                “There, it is safe to drink, as you can see. Now I don’t want to hear another word about it. Drink.”

                He sat with the cup loosely in his hand, staring between her and it with his mouth slightly agape.

                “You just-“

                “Doctor, if you do not take that tonic this moment, I _will_ _not_ be responsible for the consequences.”

                His face flushed, he quickly downed the contents of the cup and then glared at her.

                “Thank you,” she said curtly, and removed the offending cup from him to place in the recycling unit by the desk.

                “Threatening a senior officer is a fire-able offense, you know!”

                “I’d hardly call that a threat, Doctor.” she replied; “Now I believe you need rest, and I will leave you to it.” She started to move towards the door. “I wish you well.”

                “Wait, Lt. Q’eil.”

                The soft tone of his voice caused her to pause, and she turned.

                “There was something I wanted to say to you before you go, and no doubt Nurse Chapel added a sedative to that powder to help me sleep, so I need to say it before I get groggy.”

                She glanced between him and the door, certain an exit was still the best course.

                “Please,” he said, looking earnestly at her from the bed. “Pull up a chair.”

                She stifled a groan and grabbed the chair from the desk, placing it beside the bed. Sitting, she cleared her throat, and placed her hands in her lap. “Yes, Doctor?”

                He seemed to be rolling thoughts around in his head, planning the next thing he would say very, very carefully. “I know what you must think of me…. That I’m just some cantankerous fool who can’t look at the glass half-full.”

                “Doctor, please-“

                “You can just call me McCoy, or something a little less formal.  It’s okay.”

                “I really don’t-“

                “Listen. About yesterday—no--” he shook his head. “This whole week…”

He extended his right hand out from under the coverlet to her. “Good work.”

                She took his hand tentatively, and then shook it, “Um, thank you….. McCoy”

                She realized it must have taken all his effort to put forth such a sign of gratitude, and she forced herself to smile at him. Then, to her infinite surprise, the smile was actually returned, and then his eyelids began to close. It took her a moment to realize her hand was still in his. She’d hate to have this one moment of peace between them ruined by the consequences of the invasion of his privacy. She had to break the physical contact before he lost consciousness, or his mind would open up from as an effect of the induced sleep, and she’d be sucked into his free-flowing drugged consciousness. She tried to slip her hand out of his but his grip tightened. Startled, she looked up at his face, but the lines in his features had softened from sleep overtaking him.

_No! No! No! Let go, I don’t want to do this!_

                She tried harder to squeeze her hand from his vice of a grip, but found she was being overcome with the feeling of drowsiness. Whether it was her own state of mind or the sedative’s effect on his, she couldn’t quite tell. As reality quickly and quietly faded, the last thought that she could be sure was her own was:   _it’s going to be really awkward when we wake up._ Then her mind succumbed to sleep and the barrage of imagery and feelings that formed the memories that made up the entity known as Leonard H. McCoy

\-------------------------------------

                **A small yellow house with a wraparound porch nestled in tall weepy trees**

How many times had he scraped up his knees as a child _his mother_ oh god his mother

**A woman in a dress with long dark hair**

He missed her so much _so much_ what had he ever done wrong that she would _that she would_ no **no** don’t think that

**A school yard, he sits alone on the swing**

Kids didn’t understand him _he didn’t understand them_ why can’t I have friends

**An injured puppy, brown and white with sad eyes**

He did his best his best with sticks and strings _seeing him_ _run again_ so happy _so happy_

**A man’s stern face**  
why can’t we keep him I saved him he's happy  _happy_ don’t make him leave too

**Three teenage boys and him riding around in a truck with big wheels**

We used to run pranks up and down the county I had friends _friends_ we would cause a ruckus we were troublemakers

**A juvenile detention cell**

It was only for two days but his dad yelled and yelled _and yelled_ I need to decide what to do with my life what to do _life going nowhere_

**A girl with curly dirty-blonde hair and large brown eyes**

She’s the prettiest thing in the world _the prettiest_ what can I do to have her what would make her love me

**An old brick building, looks like a college, surrounded by students**

_Doctor_ I will become a doctor _always be able to help_ I can help people will she love me if I have money doctors make good money _saving lives_ I want to be loved _do what's right_

**Graduation day, his father is beaming at him, she has the ring he gave her on her finger**

_I made it_ I did it _my father is proud_ she loves me he loves me _would my mother be proud_ he respects me now I am a doctor _I will help people_ I will go into internal medicine _yes_ we’ll settle down _yes_

**The girl has blossomed into a young woman, stomach swollen with child**

_I am going to be a father_ a father oh wow am I ready _what will it be like_ will it like me _oh I love her_ she loves me Dr. and Mrs. McCoy and baby make three

**He is holding the pink-clad baby in his arms, and she is sleeping**

She is the most _beautiful_ beautiful thing name her Joanna _yes Joanna_ will be lovely _loved_ I have a family _I’m a dad_ a father my life is wonderful

**His wife is crying, but her face is angry, brown eyes glaring at him**

Where did it go wrong _why is it wrong_ what did I do _how_ how could you do this only two short years _why wasn’t I enough_ what about Joanna _oh god_ oh god _make it stop please_ I love you I don’t understand why there was supposed to be love _I love you_ why oh god why do you hate me not my baby please judge I will take care _do what’s right_ care for Joanna no _no_ no no

**A bar, he’s slumped over a table**

She has everything I have nothing _nothing left_ how long have I been here more whiskey whiskey fixes everything nowhere to go I have nothing _nothing_ that bitch _I have nothing_ she never loved _me god I love you_ why no more _no more_ I have to run _nowhere to run_ I need to run this is too much _god this is too much_

**A young, blonde male cadet teases him as they walk across the quad at the academy**

I don’t have to take that from you ever since I met you _we met when I was so lost_ you helped me I love you like a brother you’re such an assholewe have _so much fun_ Starfleet was the right choice for god’s sake Jim another girl how do you do it _how can you do it_ don’t you care about anything _no you care too much_ I will always watch out for you kid thank god shit I’m late for the exam you’re an asshole Jim

**A face, blurry, oval and pale… The images focuses clearly, soft eyelashes under arched brows fall on high cheekbones, following down the straight-edge nose to soft, subtle lips parted as she sleeps**

“ **What are you doing**?”

Her eyes snapped open as she was jerked awake from the volume of the combined mental and spoken question. _Had she fallen asleep? Where was she, she was…._ Her eyes met the blue ones staring intently at her.

_Oh, god._

She jumped back in horror from the doctor and rushed to the door. She couldn’t stop the flushing in her face or the tears brimming in her eyes.  She thought she heard him call her name _, her first name_ , but she couldn’t stop. Her feet moved on their own, and they wanted far, far away from this man, and what just happened. She couldn’t face this, it was too much. It was just all too much; _she should’ve left before, when she had the chance!_ She broke into a run down the corridor as sobs threatened to shake her normally composed frame.


	3. Chapter 3

****

 

**CHAPTER 3: Shore Leave**

                A week had passed, and Chakra was grateful that none of her duties had drawn her anywhere near Medical Bay. The thought of running into Dr. McCoy made her nauseous with dread. She could imagine, if they ran into each other, the scowl he’d have while he pretended to ignore her existence. _Yes, that would probably be his reaction- or worse; he’d try to talk to her about what happened_. Suppressing another shudder, she walked quickly to her quarters. She had barely had time to replicate a cup of chamomile tea before her compu-screen beeped. “ _Incoming message from Mr. Spock_.”

With a calming sigh, she hit the receive button. “Mr. Spock, good evening.”

His image popped up on the screen, stoic as always. “Good evening, Lt. Q’eil.”

“To what do I owe this pleasure,” she sat down with her tea, “I don’t believe our ‘Chess Date’ is until Thursday.”

His eyebrow ticked at the word ‘date’, but had settled back into place before he replied, “Yes, this call does not pertain to our monthly social appointment; but a matter I have not had the opportunity to discuss with you, but I must address before shore leave starts next week.”

_Oh god_. She swallowed, trying not to look nervous. _It’s about Dr. McCoy_.

“Yes, what is it, Mr. Spock?” she managed to reply steadily.

He paused, _which was never a good sign_ , before he continued. “My inquiry relates to your plans for the scheduled two weeks of shore leave.”

As he paused again, she began to realize this might be about something else entirely; he rarely paused when speaking, and he had just done it twice. “Yes, what is it?”

He seemed to collect himself before he spoke again, “Lt. Q’eil, I have no desire to stay in temporary housing during shore leave; would it be acceptable… May I accompany you to your home? ”

His request was more of a surprise than she had expected, nearly choking on the tea she had just taken a sip of.

“What, seriously?” she coughed.

“I can see this request distresses you. I apolo-“

“No, no. It’s okay, I’m just surprised. Well, really surprised.”

She sighed; tapping the mug in her hands, “I mean it’s been 6 years since you’ve been there… mom’ll be happy to have you, of course, but…” she chewed on her lip.

“You are worried about the emotional consequences of my returning to a place with memories, especially of my mother?” both of his eyebrows quirked.

“Yes,” she nodded.

“It is for that reason, Chakra that I ask for this.” His shoulders minutely slumped forward, a gesture she knew few would notice, but it tore at her heart; and he continued quietly, “It is the closest thing to a home I have after the destruction of Vulcan, and I would like to visit.”

All she could do was accept.

\---------------------------------- 

                She stepped out of the shuttle onto the cool grass, slinging her duffle over her shoulder. The breeze felt good, the sun was shining, and her mother was waiting with open arms. Excitedly, Chakra wrapped her arms around the short, dark woman with graying hair. Laughing, she grabbed Chakra’s face and planted a kiss on each cheek.

“My cherẻ, oh it is so good to see you! Where is Spock, he is with you?” she asked with a French accent.

Chakra turned to motion to Spock, who was standing stiffly a few feet behind her.

The older woman displayed the same affection on him, causing his face to flush green as he tried to regain his composure after she let him go.

“It’s been too long Spock!” she clucked, “I have not seen you since graduation; and now you are second in commander on the Starfleet flagship.  I’m so proud!” she pronounced the last word with a pinch on his cheek.

“Momma,” Chakra scolded, “you know better than to be so physical with him! Have some mercy, or he will never come back.”

“Ah,” she waved her hands in dismissal, following her daughter to a waiting taxi, “Never you mind that. It’s his fault for waiting so long!”

He cleared his throat, “I see you have not changed much, despite the long absence, Mrs.  Q’eil.”

“And I see you still are too formal. Blame that Vulcan in you. We are like family, you can call me Frannie!” she laughed as she climbed into the cab.

Groaning, Chakra followed. Her mother started twittering on about all the neighborhood gossip and changes that had taken place in their off-world absence _. Spock was surely going to regret his decision to come back to her house_ ; after all, he’d barely made it through the summer before the Academy. As if he had read her mind, Spock lifted an eyebrow at her as they began the Taxi ride to her mother’s small suburban house outside of San Francisco.

After they arrived, Spock took a few minutes to browse through the house after dropping his bag in the guest room. Chakra watched him gingerly pick up a framed photo of their mothers when they were cadets. It was that bond that led his mother to bring him here the summer before he started the Academy. The idea, supposedly, was to give him a crash course in human interactions while at the same time, address the psionic abilities that had manifested in Chakra so that they could both function normally with others at the Academy. Sometimes, looking at him, Chakra wondered if she hadn’t gotten the better half of the deal. After all, while he had taught her how to curb her abilities and somewhat control them; despite the time spent with her and her mom, the scope of humanity still seemed to elude him. As far as she knew, Uhara and herself where the only two people he had allowed to even see him at ease, which to a Vulcan, was a generous display of trust.

Her mother bustled into the living room with a tray of tea and cookies, and Chakra had to smile as he quirked his eyebrows at one of her mother’s many jokes. She recognized that as a sign of amusement, maybe he had changed more than she had thought. After all, he had been through a lot… and she had yet had the chance to really talk to him about it, mostly because they kept their distance on the ship, except for the monthly chess game where they mostly made small talk. The next two weeks would certainly be interesting.  She began munching on a cookie, as her gaze caught his, and she grinned.

\-------------------------------------- 

“Bones, you can’t be serious!!!”

James Kirk’s uncontrollable bouts of laughter were starting to irk his nerves, “Damnit Jim, will you quit guffawing, you’re making me sorry that I’m even telling you!” he chugged back another shot of Tennessee Whiskey to try to calm his nerves. _This wasn’t going as well as he’d hoped._

                “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Jim waved for another beer. “But you really are a piece of work! First, you’re all gaga over this chick all through the Academy; despite the fact you never manned up to talk to her, and lost out on some fine opportunities I pushed your way, I might add.” He grinned and took a swig of his beer, “Then you torture the poor thing non-stop when you finally _do_ get to talk to her!”

He put down the beer and grinned even wider.  “After that, I’d be surprised if she’ll give you time of day, now!”

Bones heaved a sigh, “that ain’t all.”

“Aw c’mon.” Jim laughed, “no way there’s more! What? Your libido finally kicked in and you violated her right there on your desk before the week was out?”

“No,” Bones took another shot of whiskey, “I took the day off like you requested Jim, because I was feeling under the weather and I was tired of the frustration being around her caused.”

“Yea, I think everyone in the Medical Bay could sense the tension between you two.”

Bones scowled, “It’s not any of their damn business! But, as I was saying- I stayed in, trying to catch up on some sleep.  Mid-morning, Nurse Chapel called to tell me, of all people, she was sending Lt. Q’eil to my quarters with the vitamin supplement I had requested earlier. I was a bundle of nerves for the whole ten minutes it took for her to get there. So many things ran through my head, there were so many things I wanted to tell her; but once again, I failed miserably at muttering two nice words together.”

“Ah,” Jim sighed, “Fail. Bar-keep, this hopeless romantic’s next shot on me!” he tapped Bones’ shoulder. “So, you got the girl of your dreams in your quarters and you still couldn’t talk to her like a decent human being. At this point it’d be rhetorical to ask whether or not it ended well.”

Bones downed the shot the Bartender slid over, “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

He thunked his head on the bar, dizzy and miserable, “I actually did say stuff to her this time, nice stuff too. I told her she did a good job with cleaning up that dampener explosion mess, and I told her she could just call me McCoy-“

“Shit, did she?”

“Did what?”

“Get all informal like that, and call you McCoy?”

“Yea…  I know, I know… but I fucked it up; really bad, Jim.”

“I knew it! You made a move on her! Your dry spell is over, man!”

Grimacing, he thunked his head on the bar again, “No, I didn’t try to have sex with her!”

Jim blinked slowly at him, “Then what is it?”

“I… I did something worse.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, “I held her hand- wouldn’t let go of her hand, I should say, while the sedative in the vitamin powder took effect.”

Jim gave him a perplexed look, “I don’t follow.”

Bones scowled again, “It’s ‘cause you don’t read my damn reports! Chakra is a touch-telepath. “

“Wait,” Jim blinked slowly. “Wait- so, that means, what- like Vulcans?”

“Similar, I don’t think she can share conscious thoughts; just see into other peoples’. Shit, I don’t know how that mind voodoo works. I’m a doctor, not a psychic.”

“So… she, like, saw into your head while you were falling asleep?” Jim blinked again, “but she wasn’t trying to; you were keeping physical contact so that she would, against her will because of the drug’s effect, or something … isn’t that like, mental rape?”

Bones groaned and slumped onto the bar, “God, I fucked up.”

After a moment of processing, Jim ordered another beer, “okay. We seriously _gotta_ get you a one-nighter, ‘cause I really can’t have you going around getting girls to mind-rape you and shit on the ship, man. That’s just wrong… unless that’s what gets you off, but that’s still so, so wrong.”

“Damnit Jim! I’m sorry I even told you!”

After another bout of laughter, Jim’s face grew serious. “So she probably knows how you feel now.”

“Yea,” Bones tightly shut his eyes, “when I woke up she bolted for the door faster than anything I’ve ever seen. She looked so… scared. ”

“Well, what are you going to do; I mean you guys can’t avoid each other forever.”

Bones groaned, “I don’t know! It’s all on the table. I messed up, but she knows everything about me..." he shook his head.  "I know so little about her; I mean, I don’t even know how she feels!” He ran his fingers through his hair again. “I don’t even think she’d ever talk to me again. I went too far. Like a fucking bull in a... whatever.” he slumped back over the bar, suddenly too tired for comprehensive thought.

“Yea, that’s true.” Jim stretched, yawned, and waved to the bartender for the tab; “but y’know what I think, Bones?”

 “What?”

“I think if someone knows the whole, true you… the you no one else has ever been allowed to see, or will ever really know; They  know all that, but they can still look you in the eye and accept you… well then wouldn’t you do everything you could to keep them in your life?”

Bones let out a whiskey-tinged laugh, “Now who’s the romantic?”


	4. Chapter 4

** **

 

**CHAPTER 4: Estov Prime**

                “G’morning, Lass. You’re looking awfully bonnie t’day.”

                Chakra looked up from her data pad with a grin at the short Scotsman who had just stepped into Engineering. “Good morning, Mr. Scott; meeting went well?”

                “Aye,” he looked over the compu-screen to her right, tapping in some data. “We have some orders ta report ta a distress signal coming from Estov Prime.” He paused, glancing at her. “An dinae tell you ta call me Scotty?”

                “Oh?” she handed the data pad to him trying not to grin, “It must have slipped my mind. Here, this requires your signature.”

 Absent-mindedly, he scribbled his name, his eyes focused on the equations running across the compu-screen. Chakra collected the papers she had stacked neatly on the desk. “I’m going to run these to the Operations Office. I’ll be right back.”

                “Aye, sounds good.  Wouldnae want to go inta maximum warp without all the calibration check-lists filed.” He laughed, and waved her along.

                Smiling to herself, she walked briskly along the corridor. She found the chief engineer to be quite pleasant, despite his sometimes coarse humor and apparent apathy towards formality and protocol.  The man hadn’t filed a single shred of paperwork, and they’d been in space for two and a half weeks!

She shook her head as she stepped into the turbo-lift; _well at least Mr. Scott’s paperwork fiasco had kept her far from Medical Bay_. She hadn’t seen a trace of Dr. McCoy, with the exception of running into the gargoyle briefly before re-boarding the Enterprise at the end of leave. She had mulled over the idea of apologizing to him for the first week after launch, but Spock’s advice had kept her from it. During leave they had discussed the situation at length, and Spock had made the point that logically she shouldn’t have to bring up something that the Doctor may not wish to discuss, embarrassing them both further. If he felt the need to address what had happened, he would. In the mean time, Spock had worked with her on better control and meditative techniques. 

She smiled to herself again as she logged the paperwork into the compu-screen on her desk. Under that apathetic Vulcan mask she had eventually learned how to measure his subtle displays of emotion _.  If her colleagues only had an inkling of the depth behind those unreadable eyes_ \-- her thoughts were interrupted by the Vulcan himself standing in front of her.

“Mr. Spock.” She looked up from her screen. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Lt. Q’eil, I have stopped by to make sure the calibration tests have been logged. I understand Mr. Scott is not the most… punctual in such matters.”

She stifled a laugh. When she had reported to Engineering two days ago, the blank forms were splayed all over the place. While a brilliant engineer, Montgomery Scott was easily the worst procrastinator on the Enterprise when it came to paperwork.

“Yes, sir.” She unplugged the data pad from the compu-port. “I just finished logging them in. All the systems check out, and we should be ready to engage maximum warp with no complications.”

His dark eyes briefly skimmed over the report. “Yes, I believe your conclusion is correct. I will have the captain sign off on these immediately; we should be arriving at our destination within ten minutes, Lieutenant-- at which time I would appreciate it if you would report to Medical.”

_No! No! No! No!_

He paused as the look of terror washed over her face, but continued; “I ask this of you because of the nature of the distress signal we received from Estov prime.  Recently a small Star Fleet out-posting was constructed on the uninhabited planet. Starfleet received a distress call at 0900 last night claiming that they were under attack and the group had sustained severe injuries.  Out of all the nonmedical staff on this ship, only you and two others have adequate training in the field of nursing to assist with the sudden influx of patients.”

She couldn’t help groaning. “I thought they re-staffed Medical before we left Earth.”

“Thanks to the Narada’s attack on Star Fleet, Starship-ready medical staff has become somewhat sparse. As the flagship, we managed to secure another doctor and two more nurses, but that only brings our medical staff up to eleven. The out-post reported inhabitants of eight officers and fourteen staff.”

“I understand.” She sighed softly. “I will report to Medical when we drop out of warp, sir.”

He gave a slight nod, and then gracefully turned and strolled out of the room, leaving Chakra cursing the universe and the source of negativity that haunted her existence lately-- which went by the name of Leonard McCoy.

\------------------------- 

She was breaking a sweat, trying to hold the screaming woman down.

“Someone get me a low-grade sedative!”  She yelled over the turmoil. The Medical Bay looked like a war zone.  Out of the twenty-two Starfleet members the landing party had rescued, three were dead, two were missing, and the rest were near death or in a hysterical state. She gritted her teeth as the woman bucked and writhed under her hands, gnashing and trying to tear Chakra’s skin with her teeth and nails. _I’ve never seen hysteria like this._

“Stay still!” she hissed, while trying to get a better grip on the woman’s upper arms, but the woman managed to free her left arm and rake her claws across Chakra’s face. Startled, Chakra released the woman, and she immediately curled over on her side and began weeping.  Chakra snapped out of her momentary shock and grabbed a hypo-shot off the cart at the end of the bed. Just as the woman broke into a psychotic rage again, Chakra pumped the sedative into her upper arm, and the woman fell on the bed, eyes falling closed.

Gasping, Chakra held on to the side of the bed, mind reeling to explain the woman’s behavior. She stiffened as a hand clamped on her right shoulder.

                “You scanned her yet? What’s the prognosis?”

She braced herself against the barking tone of Dr. McCoy’s voice before replying. “I _just_ barely managed to put her down, and I haven’t even had the chance to scan her.”

“What are you just standing there for, then?”

She wheeled around to face him, indignant anger flashing in her eyes. “She was as wild as a ca-“

The look of horror that crossed his face stopped her mid-statement.

“Good God!”  He grabbed some gauze from the stand next to the bio bed and pressed it to the right side of her face. “What happened?” he demanded.

“She was completely wild! S-She clawed me.”  Chakra was uncomfortably aware of his face being inches away, his breath wafting across hers. She found herself examining the lines of grey and gold splayed through the blue of his irises that were focused on her cheek. She cleared her throat. “It’s not that bad. Doctor, the patients-“

“Your face is covered in blood! Damnit, don’t tell me-“

“Doctor, Really, I’m fine.” She said with a hint of desperation, squirming to pull away from his hands.

 He stared at her a moment, eyes cold and angry. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. His hands slowly dropped to his side, and she could his lips thin and his jaw twitch. He glanced away from her face and took a step back. “Keep some gauze on it. I want a full scan on this patient, and then I want you to stay in the office, I can’t have you bleeding on the others.”

                He stomped away, barking orders at the other nurses. She stood, stunned for a moment longer, then took some gauze and bandage tape, placing it across her right cheek.  She got to work scanning the woman who lay feebly in the bed. She noticed the woman seemed emaciated, like she hadn’t eaten in a long time, but other than that, the scan results were normal. Puzzled, she hooked the woman up to an IV, and then took a vial of blood to run a toxicology report. She ran it down to the lab, but the results were normal.

Frustrated, she stopped in the women’s bathroom on the way back to Medical to catch her breath and a moment’s peace. She glanced in the mirror and froze. The gauze she had taped to her face was soaked in dark red blood, and there was dried blood running down the side of her face, almost in her ear. _No wonder McCoy- **Doctor** McCoy, had been upset._  She sighed, pulling the bandage off. She traced the dry purple lines across her face. It would probably take a whole day for them to heal. She frowned. That woman shouldn’t have had the strength to leave gashes in her face with just a scratch. That was very, very strange--mostly because she wasn’t didn’t bleed as easily as humans in the first place. She patted at her face with cold water, mulling over the situation.

                Suddenly, the entire ship rocked so hard to the right that Chakra was thrown to the floor. Dazed, she slowly got up to her feet. _What was that?_ She hurried to the hallway. Glancing around, she didn’t see anyone and there were no alerts going off. Confused, she made her way to a hall screen. There was no announcement in the menu. _Maybe it was a malfunction_ , she stepped into the turbo lift. Three seconds later, she stepped out on Deck 6. _Something was wrong._ There was no bustling of people; she couldn’t hear any voices or movement. The entire corridor was empty. _There wasn’t a ship announcement or a red alert, what is going on?_  She quietly made her way to Medical Bay. When the door slid open, she stood a moment and stared, confused.

                It was so quiet that she could hear her own breathing. The patients in the beds all seemed to be asleep, and the medical staff were standing as still as mannequins.  She took a step forward, the clack of her boot reverberating in her ears. No one moved.  The scene reminded her of an old game they used to play in school where everyone would freeze in a position on call and had to hold it or be tagged out of the game. She reached out timidly to the Nurse standing in front of her who was holding a data pad while reaching for a hypo-shot in the storage cabinet. The woman didn’t even flinch as Chakra placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Nurse?” Chakra looked into her face, which looked like every muscle had frozen into a contemplative stare. “Nurse?”

Scared, Chakra placed her fingers on the woman’s neck. Faint as it was, she could make out a pulse. Sighing in relief, she looked around the rest of the room for—there, by the bedside of the woman she had been attending. Dr. McCoy’s back was turned towards her. She moved quietly around the other frozen-in-place medical staff to him. “Dr. McCoy?” she placed her hand on his shoulder _. No response_. She looked at his face, scrunched into a puzzled look. Following his gaze, she glanced at the woman in the bed, pale and still, eyes open. Shocked, Chakra bent to check the woman’s pulse. _Nothing._

Shocked, she stepped backwards, knocking the tray of bandages off the stand next to the bed. No one moved. The only sound was the clatter of the scissors hitting the floor. Chakra looked back up at McCoy. “Doctor!” she moved closer to his ear. “Doc--McCoy, can you hear me?” His profile didn’t change. Not even his eyes moved.  She reeled back, and ran towards the door, panic lapping at her conscious mind. _I have to tell someone_!

She grabbed the first hall screen she came to and punched in the emergency code. A red alert began to sound. She pressed the call button. “Attention, this is Lt. Q’eil. Something strange has occurred in Medical. I repeat: Emergency in Medical!”

She took her finger off the button and waited. No response came. She jabbed the button again. “Attention! Emergency in Medical! Does anyone copy?” Silence. Panicking, she ran for the turbo lift, punching the button for the bridge. By the time the turbo lift dinged that she was at the bridge, tiny crystals had formed across the left-side of her face. Ignoring the growing cold of the crystals that increased the feeling of panic, she exited the turbo lift onto the bridge. “There is an emergency-“

The scene before her took the strength from her legs and she fell to the floor. Everyone on the bridge was deathly still, just like in the Medical Bay. The Navigator and Helmsman looked were in the middle of a conversation, sitting with their mouths open, eyes focused on each other. Her eyes roamed the oval room, taking in that the other crew members were also frozen in their activities. She felt the Crystals creeping up her arms. _What is going on? Is everyone on the ship paralyzed like this? Could this be… permanent?_

“Spock to Enterprise, come in Enterprise.”

She lifted her head, dazed.

“Enterprise, are you there?”

The words penetrated the fog on panic around her mind. She jumped up and rushed to the Comm panel where Uhura sat, staring off into nothing. She jabbed the Comm button.

“Spock! Spock, it’s me, it’s Chakra.”

“Where is Uhura?”

“She’s here, Spock, everyone’s here but they… I don’t know what’s wrong with them!”

“You are unaffected?”

She was caught by the strange strain in his voice, “Well, I’m the only one moving. Everyone else look like living statues. What’s going on?”

“I am off-ship with the Captain. I need you to beam us aboard, Lt. Q’eil. He needs immediate attention, and then we can figure out what’s going on.”

“I don’t know how to use the transporter pad!”

“You should be able to read one of the techs and learn what you need to know to operate the panel. Once we’re beamed aboard, I will need your help with the Captain. I will leave my Com on for all frequencies. Hurry, Chakra.”

She bolted to the turbo lift. She punched the button for the transporter room. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm down, but the crystals were getting worse by the minute, growing beyond her control. A thin layer now coated her skin from her left cheek to her left wrist. The Turbo lift door opened and she barreled through a couple of officers to get into the transporter room. She sprinted to the tech station and placed her hand on the female tech’s. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and touched the woman’s mind. At first, it was very confusing, like a dream. Then, she broke through the cloud of disjointed images to the free flow of memories. Locating the specifics she needed took a few minutes; the woman’s mind seemed to be in some sort of sleep-induced state which made it difficult to navigate. Finally, she found the jumbled mass of transporter panel training and, using it, tapped in the sequences to beam Spock and Kirk aboard.  The pad energized and within seconds, Spock stood on the platform, a writhing James Kirk in his arms.

Relieved at the success of her endeavor, Chakra slid away from the tech.  The relief was quickly replaced with worry as Spock struggled with his hysterical charge.

“Chakra, help me.” Spock set the captain down.

“What’s wrong with him?” Chakra hurried over; but as she got close, Kirk started to scream and claw at her. She stopped, staring at Spock.

He was kneeling, catching his breath and watching Kirk intently.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked again.

“For lack of better terminology, he is possessed.” Spock slumped a little. “I tried to pry it from him, but I could not.  I think you may have better luck in removing the entity.”

“Me?” Chakra tilted her head, puzzled.

Spock paused. “What happened to your cheek?” 

“A woman clawed at my face. She was acting a lot like the Captain, now.” She paused, struck by the connection. “Do you think she was possessed like the Captain?”

 “I am not sure,” Spock admitted. “But it seems the previous assessment concluding that Estov Prime is uninhabited was inaccurate. Chakra, I need you to help me pry it from the Captain Kirk. Perhaps we can reason with it.”

“I don’t know Spock. Then, there’s the rest of the crew- I don’t know what’s going on. Shouldn’t we try to figure this out first?”

“There’s not enough time. I believe it do considerable harm to him if it remains attached.”

The image of the dead woman flashed through her mind. “Oh no.”

She dropped to her knees beside the captain. He lashed out, but Spock held him down. “Calm down, Jim.” She heard Spock whisper.

“You’ll help me, right?” she glanced at Spock, and he nodded.  Taking a deep breath, she touched Captain Kirk’s face. Instantly, she was sucked into his consciousness. She felt Spock touch her face in the pattern of the mind-meld, and then he was there with her. It was comforting enough that she dove deeper. The blackness was overwhelming. _This isn’t right; I can’t even touch his thoughts._ In response, Spock’s mind whispered “ _Try._ ”

There was an ear-piercing scream.


	5. Chapter 5

** **

 

**Sleeping Beauty**

The conscious world slowly realigned, and coherence returned. Chakra’s eyes slowly focused on the tile in front of her nose. With a low groan, she turned her head to veiw the rest of the room from her vantage point on the cool floor. Captain Kirk was laying on the floor  a few yards away , his face blankly staring in her direction. She squinted against the buzz in her head and looked around for Spock. She caught sight of the Vulcan slumped against the transporter pad on the other side of the room, green blood dripped down the side of his face from a wound hidden by his bangs and his eyes were closed. Chakra blinked, a fog was clouding her vision; slowly she realized it wasn’t  bleary vision, there was actual fog hanging in the air in front of Spock. As she stared at it, the fog shifted and Chakra gasped as the vapor took on the shape of a human face. The eerie blue mist stared back at her for a moment, and then howled a chilling shriek dissipating into the air. 

                Chakra blinked several times,  but the appiritiion did not return. Suddenly, her body seemed to rmember itself, and shooting pain coarsed through her head and her nerves cried out in pain. Groaning, she pressed her hand against her throbbing temple.

                “What happened?” she asked herself, trying to recall anything after diving into the captain’s mind-- _The captain_! She glanced over where Kirk lay motionless except for slow breathing, and she heard Spock stir. She watched him push himself onto his knees and crawl to the captain. Chakra, on the other hand, could not find the strength to lift her body off the floor. She continued laying there as Spock examined Captain Kirk. Then, he crawled over to her and gently turned her onto her back. Her body screamed in protest, but she only let out a small whimper as he proceeded to check her neck and arms for breaks.

“You’re in a lot of pain.” Spock stated in his usual monotone, but concern swam in the dark pools of his eyes.

“ Nevermind that, how’s the captain?” she winced as Spock slowly rotated her head to the left.

“He is himself, and stable,  but it’ll be hard to determine if any damage was sustained by harboring the alien entity until we get him to Medical Bay. However I cannot carry both of you… so you will need to be able to walk”

She laughed a little, and immediatedly regretted the movement. “I don’t even think I can stand up, Spock.”

“Aside from the unflattering buise on your forehead, you have no other serious injuries. Considering the fact that you heal at a 30 % quicker rate than Humans or Vulcans, I surmise you’ll be able to return to moderate activity within seven minutes.”

“Well… then, get the Captain to Medical Bay. I can meet you there when I can move again.”

Spock lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I do not believe that is wise. It would be better to stay together.”

She gave a small sigh, waiting impatiently for her body to recover from shock. “ Spock... what happened?”

“ It called itself Voh.” Spock sat back and stretched out his legs, glancing at the Captain, “ That is how the entity inside Jim identified itself. There was a full range of emotions and images that I have yet to sort out, it will require some meditation on the matter, but I am sure somehow it means us great harm.”

Chakra nooded again, the pain beginning to subside. “ I don’t remember anything after diving in. How did I wind up on the floor over here?”

“Extracting Voh was more… violent than I anticipated. The being seems to be composed of pure psychic energy.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Dr. Borioccio, a famous Xeno-anthropologist, speculated about the exsistance of such a race… all though there has never been any discoveries that support the theory.”

“Until now.”

“So it would seem… Dr.Boriocco also speculated that within the theory of universal balance, if such a race exsisted, there would be a polar opposite.”

“ Yes, I’m familiar with the theory. It was thought up in the early twenty-first century and it was a blend of philosophy, metaphysics, and science. The basic hypothesis was that everything in the universe had a distinct opposite, so that  everything in the space continuum would remain in sync.” Chakra furrowed her brows in thought, “ But I don’t understand what this has to do with the beings from Estov, or what’s going on.”

“ When the landing party went planet-side after the evacuation of the colonists, we found logs in the main complex where it had been recorded that just prior to the distress call Starfleet received, the officer in charge of the colony had discovered something in the caves north of the complex. Ignoring protocol, the colony did not report the find and the officer in charge brought the object into the compound. Naturally, after reading through the logs, Jim had to see what they had brought into the colony…” Spock became quiet, and glanced over to where the Captain lay.

“What was it? What happened?” Chakra asked when it appeared Spock wasn’t going to continue.

His brown eyes locked with her lavender ones. “Chakra, the object the colonists found, and the Captain touched just before falling into his maddened state under the influence of the Estovian, was a floating diamond.”

She felt the weight of the statement fall on her. As far as anyone knew, there was only one planet in the known galaxies where floating diamonds could be found, and that was Ty’roi.

“ I don’t understand. Are you saying that somehow Ty’roi and Estov are connected?”

“I’m not certain of it, but that is what the evidence suggests. When we get to Medical bay I will meditate on it. Perhaps there will be an answer in the information Voh flooded into me.” Spock stood and extended his hand to her. “Can you move now?”

She reached up, grabbed his hand, and pulled herself up. “Yes, thank you. My head still feels like someone dropped a brick on it, but I think I can make it to Medical.”

“Good.” He scooped up Cpatain Kirk, “Let us move quickly.”

\--------------

                The Medical bay remained eerily quiet, and it took everything Chakra had not to just scream. Spock, the only other mobile thing in the room, seemed oblivious to the disturbing absence of sound and movement as he finished scanning the last living statue in the room.

“Fascinating.” He murmured, placing the scanner on the closest tray.

“What’s wrong with everyone?’ Chakra whispered, “Do you know what’s wrong?”

Spock clasped his hands behind his back in his usually demeanor and began a slow pacing around the immediate area. “My medical expertise is limited, but based on these scanner readings… They are asleep.”

“Asleep?” Chakra hissed; “They’re frozen in awkward positions and their eyes are open—they don’t respond to noise or touch. That’s not ‘asleep’!”

“Please calm down Chakra. I can clearly see this is not a usual state of unconsciousness, however I was merely stating that theor biological functions are nominal, which leads to the conclusion that whatever has caused this phenomenon is an outside influence that is not traceable by a Bio-scanner.”

“Are you saying that the Estovians have… have somehow frozen everyone on this ship… I mean, everyone?!”

“It would take a great amount of power to control so many minds at once, let alone this level of control. I hypothesize a diversion would have to be created for the human mind to remain locked down this long.”

“a diversion? “

“ Explain to me the transporter technician’s state of mind when you dove in for the transporter codes and procedures.”

“ It was webby, like weaving through a tangled dream. Once I broke through to the lower sunconcious, it was normal.”

A thought occurred to her, “Are you saying their conscious minds were locked into dreams? That makes more sense...”

 “That is my theory. They are caught in a dream so deep they may not even realize they are asleep, and the psychic  phenomenon washed pver their collective conscious so quickly their bodies did not have time to react, giving the appearance of living statues.”

“Fascinating.” Chakra exhaled.

“Indeed.” Spock quirked an eyebrow. “However, that is not what concerns us at the moment. There is the more pressing matter of how to release the psychic hold, especially on the good doctor.”

“ Yes, can’t you pull him out of it with a mind meld?”

“It did not work with the Captain, I doubt I would be any more successful with Dr.McCoy.”

“but Captain Kirk was possessed by an actual entity, and Dr. McCoy is simply under it’s influence. Surely with a weakened psychic bond it would be easier to detach him.”

“A proper assumption.” Spock crossed his arms and glanced at the captain laying in a biobed. “however, it would be easier for you, not me.”

“Why?” Chakra balled up her fist, “Why do you think I would be any better at it than you? You have so much more control than I do!”

“Yes.” Spock looked at her grimly, “But they  seem to react more to you than me.”

Chakra blinked in surprise. ‘W-what?”

“The first time I failed at prying the being from the Captain, the thought crossed my mind that your ability may be required. The entity’s reaction was terribly violent; it  filled my mind with animosity and gave a shriek so deafening, I released my hands from Jim. When you and I went in together, it completely ignored me for you; and only because of that I was able to pry it from Jim’s mind.”

“Wh-why would they hate me so much?” Chakra was horrified.

“ We can concern ourselves with that after Dr.McCoy has a look at the Captain. Priorities, Chakra.”

“ Oh, yes, I’m sorry.” Chakra shook her head, focusing on the task at hand. Dr. McCoy stood in the same position by the far biobed where the woman’s corpse lay, his face scrunched into a puzzled look. She reached up and pushed a strand of his bangs that had fallen out of place while he had been running around trying to save lives. Absently, she wondered what he was dreaming about in that thick, gumpy head of his.

Spock cleared his throat. “Chakra. Remember to be careful. There is a chance you could get caught in his dream.”

“A little risk involved in saving sleeping beauty, huh?” she laughed weakly.

Spock quirked an eyebrow, but did not respond.

“ Relax, Spock. If I have to pull him out with my teeth, I will get Dr.McCoy out of there, for the Captain.”

Spock nodded. “The best idea might be to provoke an emotional respose.”

“What kind of emotion?” she glanced at Spock before she touched McCoy.

“The stronger the emotion, the better chance you’ll have of pulling him out of it.”

Chakra chuckled as she framed Dr.McCoy’s face with her hands. “ Imagine, a Vulcan recommending to use emotion as a solution to a problem.”

“Be careful, my friend.” Spock murmered.

Chakra closed her eyes, and the world went black.

\---------------

“Whoa! Easy there!”

Strong arms kept Chakra from falling on her face. Startled, she turned at stared up at her rescuer. His blue eyes sparked with amusement, and the big smile that lit up his face crinkled the corners of his eyes. For a moment, she was lost in that smile and those eyes.

“So this is what you look like when you smile.” She grinned in return.

Dr. McCoy titled his head to the side, regarding her curiousily.

“ Are you okay… you’re acting like you’ve never seen me smile before, honey.”

Chakra’s jaw dropped, the color drained from her face and the strength fell out of her knees. Doctor Leonard H. McCoy just smiled and called her honey!

“ Okay, okay, let’s sit somewhere in the shade, you may have pushed yourself a little much being in the sun today.”

Stunned, she let him lead her to a bench under a tree. _Tree?_ She glanced around and realized they were in a park. The sun was bright and the weather was warm. The park was lively but not crowded, and she even got a glance of familiar faces surrounding a cooler nearby. Dr.McCoy was dressed in a flattering polo shirt and dark jeans. She was in a teal sundress. _A sundress!?_   She massaged her temple as she started to feel confused. Wasn’t she just in uniform, on the USS Enterprise trying to rescue—

“Hey! Did she overdo it with the sun again?”  Nyota Uraha ran up in a sports tanktop and excersise shorts. “Chakra, you have to watch that pale complexion, you should really be more careful!”

“Where am I?” Chakra tried to concentrate, her mind torn between the fading images of the Enterprise and the scene around her.

“The annual picnic, silly. Here, have some water. You haven’t had a bad dizzy spell like this since Dr.McCoy proposed!”

Chakra choked on the water.

“Dr.McCoy did what?!”

Nyota and McCoy switched glances. He offered to go fetch Spock and Nyota agreed to sit with Chakra, who was busy chugging the water bottle she had been offered like it was the last thing she’d ever drink.

“How long have we been together?” she gasped.

Nyota gave her a puzzled look. “Since he retired from Starfleet. We have this picnic every year. Are you sure you’re okay? sure you’re ou aren’t… pregnant, are you?”

“No, no.” chakra managed a grin. “I’m fine. I just feel…. Confused.”

“Probably dillerium from sun exhaustion.” McCoy pressed his hand to her cheek. “I went and got Spock.”

She glanced from the hand and it’s owner to the tall Vulcan attired as casually as his peers, pulling his sunglasses off to get a better look at her in the shade.

“Chakra.” Spock tilted his head, a spark of concern behind his chocolate eyes.

“I am fine, really.” Chakra felt embarrassed by the everyone’s attentative gaze. “ It was just a moment of disorientation. Really, I’m okay. Please don’t worry yourselves.”

Captain Kirk ran up to the group in orange shorts, bouncing a volleyball. “So this is where the party got to. What’s up guys?”

“Chakra is suffering a small case of sun exhaustion, Jim.” Spock quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh, bummer. Why don’t you take her home Bones and let her rest. We’ll be by later for dinner. You’re still making that crown rib roast, right?”

Chakra leaned towards Nyota. “ Dr. McCoy can cook?”

“ You seriously need some rest, girl.” Nyota laughed.

\---------------

Chakra woke up in a large bed covered in cotton sheets. She propped herself up on her elbows, hearing clattering around in another room. She glanced around at the sharply decorated bedroom, everything suited her style. How did she get here? When did she go to sleep? Wasn’t she just in the park… no, the Enterprise… No, no…. the park, right?

“Oh, you’re awake.” McCoy walked in, wiping his hand on a dish towel, “I was coming in here to wake you. Jim and the others will be here in about an hour.”

She stretched, and threw the covers off.

“You look so sexy when you do that.” McCoy grinned and sat down next to her. “Are you feeling better, honey?”

Her eyes roamed over his handsome face to the toned arms exposed by the white tshirt he had on.

“Much.” She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.

He laughed, and she decided she liked the sound of it very much. He had a hearty, full laugh that started in his diaohram and shook his shoulders. Was it strange, that she felt like she had never heard his laugh before? Weren’t they married? They lived in an apartment by the park, they had lived there since he retired. They had been dating since the academy. Why would she feel like this was all new and a bit strange to her?

McCoy frowned. “ Are you sure you’re better? You still look a little glazed over.”

“No-No, I’m fine. I was just thinking about what I would wear, that’s all.”

McCoy smiled again, and leaned towards her. His lips softly brushed hers, and the warmth pleasantly surprised her. She reached up and caressed his cheek as his lips massaged hers apart. He left a soft, feathery and warm trail of kisses down her neck and across her clavicale. She giggled, high from his touch. It felt like the first time they;d ever kissed. She wanted to savor the sensation. She pulled his face back up to hers and kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her and she melted into his warmth. Wvery fiber of her being wanted to pause this moment for all eternity, wanted everything that Leanoard McCoy was, even if he was a cantankerous bastard who had made her life miserable until this point.

She blinked, clarity returning, and pushed him away. None of this was real. She was here because they were locked inside of a dream... the ship was in danger, and she needed to retrieve Dr. McCoy to save the captain!

“When did you stop?” she gasped, searching his face for the traces of the Dr.McCoy she knew.

He furrowed his brow. “Stop what?”

“Being that aggravating bastard I hate.” her mind pitted the infuriating doctor she new against this picture-perfect version. The blurred lines of the dream began to come into focus, she could see through the psychic layers keeping McCoy trapped in this fantasy. An emotional response, she had to crack open the veneer of his created reality.

His eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“This isn’t the Doctor McCoy I know. This is like a romanticized version. You’re not nearly so generous or organized in real life. You would never live an apartment. You grew up in a farm house. I doubt you’d be much of a chef, either. You don’t have the patience for it.”

He shook his head, “This is me, what are you talking about?”

“From what I saw in your memories, I can believe a part of you is like this… but this isn’t the whole picture. Where is the bitterness from the divorce, your alcoholic tendencies, your dry humor, and your poor bedside manners?”

McCoy stood up and paced to the end of the bed, cheeks flushed.

“ Oh yes, and your hair-trigger temper. I nearly forgot that one.” Chakra snorted.

McCoy ran his hands through his hair. “What are you doing? Don't say thinks like that Chakra, we're happy here-- we can be happy all our lives! I don't need anyone else but you.”  


“Is that you, or the Estovian talking?” a pang of sympathy ran through Chakra. She was shattering his dream, this perfect world where he could be safe, and was surrounded by love. "Do you really think we could be happy in this place? Living our lives like the ads of a magazine? perfectly clean house, beach and park parties with friends every weekend-- it's too Stepford for you, Doctor, and you know it."

“What are you talking about?” McCoy was becoming more agitated, and his pacing quickened, “Why would you want to start a fight?”

“ I have to.” Chakra slid off the bed. “Or we’ll both be trapped here. I nearly fell for it too.”

She watched him pace. “ I admit, you made a nice scenario; but it’s not real, Dr. McCoy.”

“It’s real!” he slammed his fist into the bed, his denial mounting even as she could see his conciousness stirring under the Estovian's mirage.

She threw herself into him, wrapping her arms around him. “I understand why you did what you did that day I came into your quarters. I forgive you. Your feelings flooded my senses, and I haven’t been able to shake them. I risked falling into this dream with you to bring you back. The captain and Spock need you, the ship is in terrible danger. You need to come back!"

McCoy hugged her back feircly. “If this is a dream, then what we are is...?”

Chakra closed her eyes, digging into McCoy’s lower subconscious, prying it free from the Eatovian’s influence.

"It was beautiful, thank you." She whispered into his ear as the dream faded into light.


End file.
